Friday, April 20, 2012

The history of Cornpania General de Tabacos de Filipinas, more
popularly known as Tabacalera, is linked to a significant stage in Philippine
history - the abolition of the tobacco monopoly. Instituted by Governor Basco y
Vargas, the monopoly was an instantaneous success in generating income for the
government but it also spawned abuses and anomalies.

1908 Compania General De Tabacos De Filipinas Postcard

The tobacco factories of the Spanish government were then
set up for bidding. Against British and French firms which competed, Tabacalera
won the bid. Incorporated in Barcelona, Spain on November 16, 1881, it had for
its prestigious incorporators the first Marquis of Comillas, His Excellency Don Antonio Lopez y
Lopez and the Banco Hispano Colonial, the Sociedad General de Credito Inmobilario
Espanol and the Banco de Paris y de los Paises Bajos.

1898 Private Mailing Postcard featuring theIron Skeleton Building , New Office of Compania General De Tabacos De Filipinas, Manila - San Marcelino

Thus, Tabacalera not only rented the five Spanish Government
factories but also set up its own factory in 1895 in one big block - Marques de
Comillas (now Norberto Romualdez Street), between Isaac Peral (now United
Nations Avenue) and estero de Balete. Once one of the world's largest tobacco
factories, Tabacalera housed thousands of employees who rolled "La Flor de la lsabela"
cigars and cigarettes - smoked throughout the world for its fine, mild blend.

1882 Compania General De Tabacos De Filipinas Stocks Certificate

It was through a systematized process of growing,
manufacturing and exporting of the finest tobacco leaves from Cagayan and
Isabela that the company soon became a byword. Its continued development
brought about its consolidation during the first few years of the First World
War when sugar, copra and hemp were included in its umbrella of products for
purchase and export.

To facilitate transport of its products, the company formed
its own fleet of steamships which was used till just before the outbreak of the
Second World War. After the war, the company's factories and other business
concerns had to be rehabilitated and reanimated. And even as Spanish products
and goods exported to the Philippines were channeled through this company, it
also created contacts for other Philippine goods (hemp and sugar) in the
European market.

At the third floor of the pre-war Tabacalera building, there
was a room the bachelor expatriates dubbed the "Republica", which
President Manuel Quezon frequented and where he enjoyed some hearty moments.
And by way of citing more interesting tidbits, Land Reform was practiced by
President Quezon when about 300 to 500 hectares of land in Arayat, Pampanga was
divided among the people, Other Philippine presidents followed and each time,
Tabacalera gave and sold pieces of land at extremely low prices.

A cigarette wrapper showing ESCOLTA. Isaac Peral 851, Manila was the factory address of Compania General De Tabacos De Filipinas

It will be remembered too that this premier tobacco company
once gifted the country, through President Quezon, with an ornate Spanish chest
(delicately filigreed with steel, gold and marble by master craftsmen) to be
the repository of the Philippine Constitution. Another valuable piece of Filipiniana added to the country's
collection donated by Tabacalera to the Philippine Government through President
Ramon Magsaysay are the rare six volumes of Fr. Manuel Blanco's Flora de
Filipinas.

1882 Compania General De Tabacos De Filipinas Cedula De Fundador Certificate

Compania General De Tabacos De Filipinas Cedula De Fundador Coupon

Tabacalera celebrated its 130th centennial last
2011. As to its other commercial
activities, it continues to do business with Indonesia, Japan, Latin America,
North America and Europe, ranging from tobacco to sugar to consumer goods from
Spain and other parts of the world. The country benefits tremendously from
these contacts since indirectly the Philippines is brought to focus. And all
because of that tobacco leaf.

ROSITAS Compania General De Tabacos De FilipinasHebra De Las Mejores Vegas De La Isabela

Art Deco cigar envelope of La Flor De La Isabela, Manille

Compania General De Tabacos De Filipinas cigar envelope in Italy

Spanish Cigarette Cards SERIES A, of Compania General De Tabacos De Filipinas featuring Movie Stars in late 1910

Spanish Cigarette Cards SERIES D, of Compania General De Tabacos De Filipinas
featuring Movie Stars in late 1910

Spanish Cigarette Cards SERIES C, of Compania General De Tabacos De Filipinas
featuring scenic landscapes and landmark in Spain

Medal in Commemoration of Compania General De Tabacos De Filipinas Centenary 1881-1981

TABACALERA advertisement in the 1950s

Today, the company has reverted back to its old name, TABACALERA. Their tradition is more than a name. Each cigar they make is work of art, and a product of impeccable quality. Their cigar undergo strict quality control measure to ensure consistency in appearance, fermentation, draw, smell, and taste. Their goal remains to deliver the best smoking experience you will ever have.

I would like to share this book by COMPANIA GENERAL DE
TABACOS DE FILIPINAS promoting their
cigar LA FLOR DE LA ISABELA published in 1925 in Madrid. It featured their factory and how they made
the finest Cigar and Cigarettes in Asia. It also contains a catalog of different brands of La Flor De La
Isabela cigars.

LA FLOR DE LA ISABELA

This is the name of the large and important Cigar and
Cigarette Factory which the COMPANIA GENERAL DE TABACOS DE FILIPINAS owns in Manila, a name which has been
made famous throughout the Far East and in the United States of America, and is
used as a trade mark and brand for the products made from the finest tobacco of
the Philippine Islands which is produced in the provinces of La Isabela , on
the Valley of Cagayan.

The «La Flor de la Isabela »
Factory, was the first property which the COMPANIA GENERAL DE TABACOS DE
FILIPINAS erected on the lands which they acquired in Manila in the vicinity of
the Pasig River when they established themselves in the islands in the year 1882.
It was opened in the year 1885 and has therefore been in existence about forty
years. The increasing success of its output has necessitated additions to Factory
and plant, and to-day the hands employ number 5,000.

The land in Manila belonging to the COMPANIA where «La Flor de la Isabela » is situated is called Pedro de San
Marcelino and comprises the highest, most attractive and healthy part of the
capital of the Philippine archipelago. Here the COMPANIA has created one of the
principal districts and centers of industrial and commercial activity in
Manila, which is approached by the Marques de Comillas Avenue, so called in
honor of the first President of the COMPANIA. The magnificent property, admirably
situated, traversed by canals and avenues, which join the Pasig River and the center of the city, covered with factories, warehouses, offices, residences and
gardens, is today an ornament and worthy of modern Manila.

In one of the most picturesque avenues, viz Isaac Peral, the
Factory «La Flor deIa Isabela» is found,
surrounded by gardens, passing through which the visitor reaches the various
buildings composing the spacious factories. The Factory consists of 42 departments,
where a populace of workers of both sexes, managed by experts dexterous In the
manufacture of Cigars, produces the various classes of Cigars and Cigarettes so
highly appreciated by the public.

The spacious extent of the departments where the workshops
are installed, the cleanliness, the hygienic services, and the kindly and
careful treatment received by the Factory employees, have been the subject for
praise on the part of Americans and foreigners who are constantly visiting «La Flor de la Isabela », The machinery used in the
Factory for the different complicated manufacturers is of the most modern and
up-to-date type, and the Chiefs of the Factory give special attention to
effecting improvements and progress in this connection. Today the equipment of
«La Flor de la Isabela », has no equal in the Far East and can compare with the best cigar
and tobacco factories in Cuba.

Where the tobacco
used by the, La Flor de la Isabela is produced?

In order to appreciate the general excellence of the
products of the Factory of the COMPANIA GENERAL DE TABACOS DE FILIPINAS an idea
must be formed of the fertile valley where its tobacco is grown. The Valley of
Cagayan, previously mentioned, where the COMPANIA has its magnificent tobacco
estates, comprises part of the basin of the river Grande de Cagavan, which rises in the
Caraballos Sur mountains and flows from north to south through the provinces of
Isabela and Cagayan into the China Sea at the northern extremity of the Island
of Luzon, the largest island of the Philippine Archipelago. This magnificent
river which has its source from the waters of the Sierra Madre and the Caraballos mountains has numerous
tributaries and a total length of 220 miles, of which 160 miles are navigable,
and it drains an area of not less than 10.000 square miles. During the rainy
season it inundates and fertilizes the verdant plains affording glorious views.

The richness of the practically virgin soil, the abundance
of fertilizing water, the moderate average temperature of 26 degrees
centigrade, make the Valley of Cagayan the most suitable plain for tobacco
cultivation. The plants in this part reach to a height of 2 meters t and the
dimensions of the best quality leaf exceed one meter in length and a half a meter in breadth.

The exuberant growth and development of the tobacco plantations
of La Isabela and Cagayan the fine and delicate aroma of the luxuriant leaf have
made famous the Philippine tobacco which competes with the best in the world,
and it is strange to know that a plant of which the original seed was imported from
Mexico by the Spaniards in the 15th century should today be one of the principal
sources of wealth of the Philippine Islands.

When the COMPANIA was established in that country in 1882t
it acquired its first estates in the best tobacco zone of the Valley of Cagayan,
it systematized the methods of cultivation, it established the modern harvesting
of the leaf, it carefully selected the grades, training thousands of settlers
and employees and finally there were created the splendid and rich plantations
which it possesses there, from where the finest tobacco of the Far East emanates. The flower of this tobacco, that is
to say « La FIor de Ia Isabela », is used in the
manufactures of this Factory. In addition the COMPANIA GENERAL DE TABACOS DE FILIPINAS,
supplies several of the monopolies of Europe and other countries with large
quantities of tobacco harvested in the valley and other parts of the
Archipelago amounting annually to many thousands of hundred weights. More than 60 010 of the tobacco produced in the Philippine Islands, is
exported or manufactured by the COMPANIA.

La Flor de la Isabela, the prominent Cigar & Cigarette Factory in the Far East

EQUALLY for its products as for its output « La Flor de la Isabela » is to-day the first Tobacco Factory in the Philippine Islands, and one of the
foremost in the world. Its annual shipments comprise an important proportion of
the export of manufactured tobacco from the Islands.

Although the products of this important Factory reach all
the world's markets, and the marks and brands of its choice Cigars are enjoying
universal popularity, its exports are chiefly to the United States of America,
to China, Japan, Australia, and to the most important countries of Europe. To
attain this, the Chiefs of the Factory have, for many years, been fostering and
selecting their skilled employees who are the most dexterous and expert at hand
made products working in the country. Numerous families of workers, under the
direction of Cuban foremen, have become with years of practice the most expert
cigar makers in «La FIor de Ia Isabela » and
constitute the pick of the Philippine tobacco workers. This Factory introduced
into the country the Havana style of make which today meets with such a large
demand, especially in the United States where there is a growing sale.

The extraordinary demand for «La
Flor de la Isabela» products, a daily increasing one, has rendered
necessary an increase in the original equipment. The constant number of Cigar
and Cigarette makers who work by hand has reached 4.000, and to this number
must be added the machine workers, and workers in the tobacco preparing branch,
the sorting department, packing, shipping, &, and the administrative and
managing staffs.

Several years ago, although the manufactures of « La Flor de Ia Isabela » were then esteemed by
discriminating smokers, export to the United States on a large scale was
unknown. Today there is not an American smoker that does not associate the name
of «ISABELA», with something choice that suggests a refined and delicious
pleasure.

A creation of La
Flor de la Isabela the magnificent Havana Shapes and Manila Sizes

THIS Factory, devoting everything to the quality of its products,
with a .nice appreciation of the public taste, with its colossal experience, is
now able to produce a Cigar of ideal luxury due to the fine and selected quality of the wrapper
and the leaf and the irreproachable make of the Cigar. What discriminating
smoker does not know the famous «Vegueros finos»,
the «Isabela excelenies», the « Senedores», «Inuencibles» or «Imperieles» of «La Flor de la Isabela ».
What smoker has failed to enjoy the rich and delicious aroma of the «Perfectos» , «Regalias» , «Misiones» and the various
sizes of «Especiales» made by «La Flor de la Isabela» .

In the large Pacific Liners, in the continental express
Trains, in the best Eastern and American Hotels, in the Clubs, Spas, in aristocratic
Functions, at the finest Banquets, the best products of «La Flor de la Isabela », are preferred by the smoker -of educated
taste and connoisseur of good tobacco. The proof of this consists in the always
increasing output of the Factory, which in the last years has been triplicated.

Its monthly export of Cigars has today reached many
millions, and the home consumption is daily increasing. Demonstrative statistics
are unnecessary and it is sufficient to say that the production of «La Flor de la Isabela », is considerably greater than
that of the other factories of the Far East.

The COMPANIA GENERAL DE TABACOS DE FILIPINAS is generally
known in the Islands as The Tabacalera.
To offer in the countries of the Far
East a «Tabacalera» cigar, of any of its many and choice sizes, constitutes the most splendid and agreeable satisfaction
that a discriminating smoker can crave for. The Cigars and Cigarettes of The Tabacalera,
on account of that special care in the selection of the tobacco used in all the
products of « La Flor de la Isabela », are today
the most choice and appreciated in those

countries.

Why the Manufactures
of La Flor de la Isabela , are the best
produced from Philippine tobacco?

The outstanding reason is that the quality of the tobacco
used has been the constant thought and care of the Chiefs of the Factory. The COMPANIA
GENERAL DE TABACOS DE FILIPINAS, has always made efforts that their manufactures
should be the best conceivable, both as regards the material used and
workmanship, and the best as to selection and choice produced in the Philippine
Islands. To a large extent, the reputation which Philippine tobacco has gained abroad
is due to the Factory «La Flor de la Isabela », The
COMPANIA in attaining the success which has rewarded its efforts has had many
advantages. Firstly, with its organization throughout the tobacco growing
regions of the Archipelago, installed for the purpose of fulfilling its
contracts for tobacco leaf exported abroad, it has been an easy matter to
select for manufacture from the thousands of tons exported annually only the
best tobacco.

Again, the COMPANIA in its large tobacco plantations in the
Valley of Cagayan has experimental grounds where the finest tobacco has been cultivated
with special care, by, which means exceptionally developed plants, of rich
aroma and extraordinary fineness, have been obtained, and its tobacco planters
have been trained in a system of dean and perfect cultivation gained during forty years'
experience.

It addition to its facilities for acquiring the best tobacco
grown in Philippine soil, the COMP ANIA has the advantage of its own means of
transport, both as regards inland waterways and inter-insular steamers, whereby
the tobacco is conveyed to Manila from the smallest and largest depots in the country,
where it is there classified and sorted in the scrupulous and careful manner which is proverbial in the
COMPANIA. The manner in which all the branches of the COMPA NIA GENERAL DE T
ABACOS DE FILIPINAS work, both in the interior and in the shipping ports, is
the subject of laudatory comment, not only on the part of the highest
authorities in the Archipelago, but also of visitors and commercial men both
native and foreign. That the products of «La Flor de Ia
Isabela»excel, that its Cigars and
Cigarettes and other Philippine tobacco manufactures today enjoy a world- wide
fame, are not matters for surprise. Both are the result of the perseverance and
initiative in the undertaking, of the progress in methods of cultivation and
manufacture, and of a careful and assiduous regard for tastes of their clients,
all of which have always been the Chief aim of those in charge of the Factory «La Flor de la Isabela ».